Thomas Beecham - Thomas Beecham conducts Mozart Vol. 2 (2014)

Sir Thomas Beecham conducts Mozart Symphonies - Volume 2

“These 1950s recordings remind us what a passionate Mozartian Beecham was. Pristine has refreshed the sound expertly” - The Sunday Times, 2014

The symphony recordings here were both made for US Columbia LP releases. In both cases the works had been recorded with Beecham's previous orchestra, the London Philharmonic, for EMI 78rpm release in March 1940, but in both cases these are the only studio recordings he made to tape, and the only recordings made with the Royal Philharmonic of the two symphonies. Both were issued later in Europe on Philips and its subsidiary label, Fonata, from which the present transfers were drawn. Recording quality, post-XR remastering, turns out to have been remarkably and consistently good, albeit in mono for both recordings - the originals prior to this remastering being somewhat harsh in reproduction, particularly the 1950 recording of the 38th Symphony.

By contrast the Divertimento, made by EMI in the most controlled conditions of Abbey Road studios required less XR adjustment to bring out its magic. The recording does, however, raise some questions to which I, at the time of writing, can offer only speculative answers. The recording originally appeared on a mono LP, alongside a 1957 recording of the Jupiter Symphony. Its reissue in 1968 was, likewise, mono, but a recent CD issue on EMI is in full stereo.

A careful examination of the mono and stereo issues reveals a number of differences, but at the same time a number of clear similarities. At times one is convinced they are the same recording - elsewhere the playing is clearly different, if only slightly. I can only conclude that the recording sessions were captured both in mono and stereo separately (this being a time when stereo recording was still in an experimental stage). The mono tapes would have been edited for release, as is normal, but when EMI returned to the stereo tapes for their recent reissue, either by accident or by design they produced a different edit, using some of the same and some alternate takes by comparison to the original mono master approved by Beecham, which appears here. A careful examination will reveal considerable timing differences in some movements between the two versions. ~Andrew Rose


Tracks:

MOZART Symphony No. 38 in D, K.504, "Prague"
MOZART Symphony No. 39 in E flat, K.543
MOZART Divertimento No. 2 in D, K.131

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Thomas Beecham